Dead Space: Enigma
by Leks Bronks
Summary: Step Two: There is no death; only rebirth.  UPDATED 5/3/12
1. Interregnum

**Dead Space: Enigma  
**A Dead Space Fanfiction**  
**

* * *

Story is in DRAFT MODE, and all material contained herein is subject to change without notice. Feedback welcome.

* * *

**Chapter 1  
Interregnum**

* * *

Together, Isaac Clarke and Ellie Langford shared a long, discomfiting silence in the cockpit of their stolen gunship as they fled the Sprawl, watching in awe as the station's rapidly disintegrating nuclear reactor suddenly lit up with the intensity of a solar flare. They braced for the shockwaves that emanated from the explosion to thunder through their ship, knocking them turbulently about for several moments until they had managed to reach a safe distance. Ellie glanced at the controls and sighed with relief.

"Whew... we're alright. The ship's okay."

Isaac didn't hear her; he was overwhelmed by the fact that they had somehow survived the wrath of EarthGov and the Church, what to speak of the Marker and its savage alien horde. It seemed so improbable that he almost didn't believe it, and instead feared it might be a strange dream he was bound to wake up from back in the cold, dark medical containment cell where he had been imprisoned for the past three years in Titan Memorial.

_Was it all real? Had he truly overcome the Marker this time?_

Despite his inner turmoil Isaac was calm on the surface, and as far as Ellie was concerned his silence was owing to the fact that he was focused upon what their next move would be. The only nuance of his composure that might have betrayed him was the frenetic dancing of his eyes, nervously telling all of his struggle with the foreboding red obelisk that had taken so much from him.

_After everything she had done to him... still, he was going to miss her. _

Isaac continued to ponder sadly over the past several hours of his life until a strange, bone chilling premonition seized him inexplicably. He stiffened, slowly widened his eyes and looked apprehensively over his shoulder.

"... What?"

Much to his relief, he was met only with Ellie's quizzical look upon him. The lines of tension immediately vacated his face, and his dark scowl loosened into a glassy-eyed stare of uncertainty.

"Isaac, why are you looking at me like that?"

He failed to respond, and Ellie began to feel a little awkward.

"... Ok. Nevermind, then."

She turned away, and Isaac finally snapped out of his trance.

"... Let's just get outta here."

Ellie side glanced him with concern, but sharing in his desire to leave this place as quickly as possible, she put it aside for the time being.

"You think this ship's got enough fuel to make it all the way back to Earth? Or are we going to have to..."

But the sound of her voice faded away as Isaac looked out the cockpit window upon the black ocean of space. All he wanted was to go home, back to Earth where he belonged, where he could just put everything behind him and return to a normal, ordinary life. Unfortunately, he knew that this would never come to pass; his intimate connection with the Markers, and all the subsequent destruction that seemed to follow him, virtually guaranteed it.

"I can't go back, Ellie."

She looked at him.

"What?"

He shook his head, his eyes locked upon the stars.

"I can never go back to Earth."

Ellie was surprised. She knew nothing of his clandestine involvement with the Marker or of his psychological attachment to it, and so she couldn't understand why she was sensing such apprehension in him now.

"Of course we have to go back... Where else are we gonna go?"

"They're going to be looking for us. For me."

She tilted her head.

"What? Because of Tiedemann? We don't have anything to worry about; he's gone, and no one's going to even know who we are."

Isaac did not share in her optimistic approach.

"You don't understand. They're not the kind of people to leave loose ends, Ellie. They going to want me dead after this, that's for sure."

Ellie cocked an eyebrow at him.

"What people are you talking about?"

Isaac stared directly at her for a long moment. Then, almost sadly, his eyes dropped to the floor.

"This is all my fault. All of this."

"What? ... I don't understand what you're talking about, Isaac."

He knew she had no idea of who he really was, or why he had been on the Sprawl in the first place. Even now with no interruptions the courage to tell her was difficult to muster, but he knew he had to, for her sake.

"Ellie... listen to me. I have to tell you about why I was there on the Sprawl."

"Why does that matter?"

"Because it's important that you know. For your own... protection."

Nervously she wondered what he had to say as he started rubbing his hands, a little anxiously.

"I was a survivor of the Ishimura. I was gonna tell you earlier, but... we kinda got sidetracked with getting out of there, you know."

She just stared at him, making it obvious that he had her full attention as he continued.

"I, uh, I escaped after what happened there. When they found me, they brought me back to the Sprawl."

Her eyes widened a little.

"... You were on the Ishimura? My god... so, you know what happened?"

He nodded.

"I was part of the crew that was sent to fix the communication blackout."

Her amazement turned to a bit of puzzlement.

"Wait... Communication blackout? Because of the attack?"

Briefly taken by the few hazy, yet still brutally horrific memories of the necromorph infested Ishimura he still had, Isaac faltered a little.

"There... there was a... a Marker... not the one on the Sprawl. Another one. They found it there, on the planet. They... they brought it aboard the Ishimura, and it killed everyone, just like what happened on the Sprawl. It wasn't a terrorist attack; that Marker is what started all of this."

Ellie struggled to understand.

"Wait, so you say there were two Markers? Where did the one on the Sprawl come from?"

Though he knew the question would inevitably have to be asked, Isaac had still not anticipated it. He immediately regretted having brought the subject up, suddenly becoming tight-lipped and turning away from Ellie. She found his behavior curious as she awaited his response, but after a period of dead silence she disappointingly concluded that he wasn't going to answer her.

"... I built it."

She quickly looked back up at the sound of his voice a moment later.

"Built what?"

"The Marker. They discovered I was..."

Just then an image of Nicole, with blaring white eye sockets, covered in blood and smiling malevolently, flashed through Isaac's mind.

"... I was infected. Infected by the Aegis 7 Marker, when I was exposed to it on the Ishimura. The scientists... they, they extracted the Codes the Marker put in my head, and they used them to build another Marker there on the Sprawl."

Such an ominous confession unnerved Ellie, who pushed back a little in her seat.

"You built one of those... things?"

Isaac shook his head.

"No. It's not like that. I didn't have anything to do with their bullshit. They just used me to get what they wanted... I would still be there now, if everything hadn't happened there."

"... You keep talking about 'them'. Who are they?"

Isaac rubbed his face with his hands.

"Who do you think? The ones who are responsible for this shit in the first place."

Curious as she was to know more, Ellie went no further with her questioning. She knew just as he did that they did not have the time to spare, so she turned back to the gunship's controls.

"Hmm. Ok, if you don't want to go back to Earth, we don't have to go there. We can go anywhere, really. Wherever we can get to."

Still, her encouragement did little to move him. Again he rubbed his face in frustration.

"Shit... where the hell is there to go?... Those fuckers are going to be everywhere."

Patience slowly waning, Ellie huffed.

"Hrhh... Well, perhaps we could just spend the rest of our lives out here, in the middle of nowhere, where no one is around. Would that work?"

Isaac looked up at her with all seriousness in his expression.

"No. There's no 'we'. I don't want you involved in this."

She blinked at him.

"Isaac, I think it's safe to say I'm already -"

"I'm not running the risk of anything happening to you. You don't deserve this. End of line."

Fearful that he might try to separate, Ellie tried to refrain from panicking.

"But... but, Isaac! What are you saying?"

"I... I think it's the best thing to do. Let's find some refuge for now, but then we're gonna go our separate ways from there."

Ellie refuted him with a shake of her head.

"What good is it going to do either of us to separate? It just doesn't make sense. We'd make it farther as a team."

He twisted his lip.

"Being with me is a danger to you. Not just because they're coming after me, either... I've... seen too much. I don't want you to get hurt."

Again she sensed his words alluding to the fact that he was infected, but Ellie was unable to see any obvious signs of his having been tainted by the Marker's touch. Owing to her budding affinity for him, she could only consider his admission to be inaccurate.

"I don't believe it. You have to be wrong. You just have to be."

"I know it doesn't seem like it, but..."

His eyes slowly returned to the stars outside the cockpit window.

"... I've just seen a lot of signs."

Isaac's voice trailed off as he suddenly heard a voice, buried deep within his mind, luring him away from the outside world all around him.

**isaac**

When he turned his attention upon this most familiar voice, he was inundated by an array of blurred, incoherent memories, emerging all at once from the darkest recesses of his brain.

_A massive, incendiary fireball... bodies, teeth, blades, blood... and a giant, twisted black obelisk of death, surrounded by its millions of screaming worshipers in so many ghastly forms.  
_

**the makers must be absorbed  
**

Withdrawn completely from outer consciousness, Isaac was unaware of the time that had passed in silence, and of the mortified expression that had formed upon his face before he finally spoke again.

"Tiedemann said that they believed I was... pure. That my mind was the purest."

Isaac then cast his glance back out the cockpit window, trying to ignore the voice that was steadily increasing in volume inside his head.

**we're waiting for you isaac  
**

Ellie could see that his mind was wandering. His widened eyes, glistening in the dim lighting of the cockpit, jumped about in their sockets and his lips were forming words that she couldn't hear. Beginning to wonder if perhaps he was more traumatized by their experience than he had initially led her to believe, Ellie leaned toward him.

"Hey, you're not gonna crack on me, are you?"

She chuckled lightly to break the gravity in the room, and drew the small, personal defense divet she had holstered to her belt. Smiling coyly she pointed it at him, tilting her head and taking aim with her one good eye.

"You do that, and I'll have to put you out of your misery."

As she continued to look him over, she noticed for the first time that he was struggling to move his left arm. Peering closer at it, she could see two long, thick trails of blood running all the way down from his shoulder on either side, as if something had punctured the flesh straight through. Immediately her smile vanished, and she raised her voice in alarm.

"What the hell... Isaac, have you been shot?"

She then saw his left hand, the back of which was covered in blood and crowned by a gathering of exposed flesh, muscle and torn polychloroprene fabric from his suit. His fingers were involuntarily twitching from the injury. Feeling her eyes upon him, Isaac grumbled under his breath.

"Fucking Tiedemann."

"What?"

"Prick shot me with a javelin gun."

Although at a glance the wounds didn't appear to be fatal, Ellie knew they warranted immediate medical attention. She could see that his skin was veiled in sweat, and obviously he was in a great deal of pain that he had been concealing from her until now.

"Shit. Isaac, we have to get you to a doctor."

He refuted her.

"I'm fine."

She grabbed his hand to examine it even as he resisted, and she gasped to see that the muscle had been pushed entirely through the wound from the inside by the force of the javelin's blow.

"You are certainly _not_ fine, Isaac."

Flustered Ellie turned back to the flight controls, pressed her hands to her temples, and drew a deep breath in order to steady her reeling mind.

"Ok... Ok. I got it. I know someplace we can go. Someplace we can get help."

Again, Isaac shook his head.

"No. No..."

Ellie finally snapped at him.

"Are you insane? We have no supplies on board! You're not going to make it very long without help. We have no choice."

Isaac stared despondently at the twinkling stars in silence, clutching his shoulder while Ellie punched in some flight coordinates.

"There's an old outpost I used to work on, which is on the edge of this system. It's too small and off the radar for anybody who might be looking for us to know about. At least for a few days, or so."

Ellie confirmed their course and the ship began to accelerate, skirting the perimeter of what was once the outer boundary of the Sprawl's orbit - which now housed little more than an expanding cloud of dust and debris. They both fell silent, sinking a little deeper into their seats as exhaustion claimed the both of them. Isaac stared dazedly through half open lids at the stars, mouthing the words that crept through his mind over and over.

_There is no death, only rebirth._


	2. Reacquainting The Demon

**Chapter 2  
Reacquainting The Demon**

* * *

_A single star blooms to life amid endless nothing. Then, another. Then another, followed by more and more until the span of darkness is shimmering with constellations, like diamonds scattered across a black silk cloth._

_At first, this is all Isaac can see as he opens his eyes, then a world around him slowly begins to fade into existence. He realizes that he is looking at the stars from behind a thick glass window just feet in front of him. His peripheral vision begins to pick up a kaleidoscope of colors - the softly glowing interface of a flight control panel and monitors. Cramped, steel walls, dimly lit overhead lights, and the quiet, droning bleeps of an onboard computer blanketed by the white noise of muffled engine fire all complete the familiar atmosphere of what he recalls to be the cockpit of the gunship. _

_Isaac pushes himself up, surprised to see that he has fallen asleep for the first time since he can remember. He tries to shake off his grogginess and he looks around, noticing that, just as he has found himself so many times before, he is alone. Ellie has disappeared, but for the moment the fact that she is absent does not occur to him. He presses a hand to his face, still feeling exhausted to the bone, and he takes the intermission of peaceful quiet to clear his mind of everything. Everything, except..._

**the marker**

_Isaac is nearly startled out of his own body by a voice coming from right next to him, practically in his ear. He throws his eyes open and looks at the seat next to him, the one he was certain just seconds before was empty, and he is utterly astonished to find that it is now occupied by someone who is staring at him. Intently.  
_

Wh, what the fuck?

_The person sitting next to Isaac is an unmistakable carbon copy of himself, identical to his own semblance, and for a very brief moment Isaac wonders if he is actually staring into a mirror. However, the differing movements and expressions of this otherwise impeccably executed echo make it obvious that this is not the case. This person stares sharply back at Isaac, and raises a voice that is identical in inflection to his own._

**evening mr clarke**

_Isaac is stunned and unable to respond as he looks his strange clone over in sheer amazement. The replication is eerily flawless, ____from his darkened, sunken features to his damaged and well-worn Advanced Suit, and even down to the ____bleeding javelin spear wounds to the left shoulder and hand._ He can only conclude that he is still somehow being victimized by the Marker's delusional grip, and his eyes dance restlessly across his strange clone in some attempt confirm his suspicion. The only _discrepancy he can find at all is the unnatural iridescence that radiates from behind his clone's dark, emerald eyes. _

_In that moment, familiarity strikes. Though he has never before in the past seen this demon take on the facade of his own likeness, still, Isaac knows exactly who it is. _

How? How the fuck do you keep making it out intact? How do you keep surviving?

_The Hive Mind chuckles sardonically. _

**remaining intact is not a prerequisite to our survival**

_The Hive Mind raises his eyebrow at Isaac's blank stare._

**you can't destroy us the signal we are broadcasting through you is always spreading as long as you exist the marker can always be rebuilt as long as the marker exists you can always be rebuilt the cycle cannot be stopped**

_He slowly nods, as if to affirm every terrifying thought that is slipping through Isaac's mind._

**you and i are one isaac we are the signal the maker we are the alpha and the omega the ouroboros we are the beginning and the end and the beginning again**

_Isaac is bewildered by the Hive Mind's strange elocution, which while ill-paced remains incredibly elegant like that of an articulate orator learning to speak in a language that is foreign to him. Certain that what he is witnessing is not a dream, Isaac is unable to understand how the Hive Mind continues to exist, and the facade of his own likeness it has chosen to take on now makes Isaac feel all the more violated. He starts becoming aware of feeling physically ill, and the Hive Mind's keen perception right away senses his inner hostility boiling to the surface.  
_

**nothing has changed except that we understand you do not want what we have to offer**

_The Hive Mind's eyes roll in thought, and he flashes an aggressive smile at Isaac, like a ravenous wolf._

**we are your friend isaac but no matter what happens between us there's no going back you must give up the idea of trying to stop us you must cooperate with us you have no choice  
**

_The Hive Mind leans back in his seat, disappearing into the shadows.  
_

**if you still wish to resist it will change absolutely nothing only time is wasted and you are in danger  
**

_Isaac stares at him._

What the fuck does that mean?

_The Hive Mind clenches his left fist. Isaac watches as the pressure forces blood to exude from the wound with each squeeze, and the detailed hallucination is so convincing that it increases the sickening feeling in Isaac's gut. He starts to breathe a little heavier as the Hive Mind bears an intimidating scowl that is cent percent identical to his own._

**this is who we are now there will be no more distracting memories or faces to guide you from now on we meet on equal terms there is still work left to do there is a marker to rebuild and you cannot be wasting time**

_Isaac laughs bitterly, trying to fight through the nausea that is beginning to overwhelm him, and he starts to double over._

Look... get it through your head... I'm not gonna build your fucking Markers. I'll find and destroy every last one of them, if that's what it takes. I will stop you.

_The Hive Mind turns with a condescending sneer._

**you fail to see that you are a contradiction in terms isaac clarke  
**

Isaac tilts his head.

Contradiction?

_In silent reply the Hive Mind raises his hand and points to Isaac's right side. Isaac's eyes curiously follow, he raises his arm, and he looks down to where the Hive Mind is pointing - at the webbed, nylon protective lining of his suit, just at the base of his rib cage. He can see the belt of his RIG is strapped tightly over this area, nearly flush to his skin save for a small, extruded lump caused by something that appears to be lodged just beneath it. The thick layering of the suit beneath the strap has prevented Isaac from feeling whatever it is, so until now the foreign object has been overlooked. However, seeing it with his own eyes now, it becomes alarmingly obvious. Isaac reaches for the strap and tugs it to release the object that has become caught underneath, and it falls to the ground with a soft, crystalline tinker. Isaac's breath stops as he stares at a tiny little shard upon the floor._

_It is a shard of the Red Marker._

_Isaac can only stare in horror at it as it glimmers like a crystal of frozen blood in the dim, artificial light of the gunship's cockpit. He feels sicker the more he stares at its smooth, scintillating surfaces, ascertaining by its existence that all of his attempts to destroy the Marker and stop its influence have ultimately failed. He looks up, terrified, into the Hive Mind's burning eyes.  
_

But this is impossible. I just saw it with my own eyes... you were destroyed...

_Isaac's pain rises in intensity until he cannot stand to be within his own body, and he finally succumbs to unconsciousness in order to escape it. The Hive Mind's imperial glower is the last thing he sees before everything turns black._

**there is no escape isaac you will make us whole**


	3. Foreign Territory

**Chapter 3**  
**Foreign Territory**

* * *

By this point, Isaac and Ellie had safely vacated Saturn's orbit and were now sailing through endless, empty space. In the respite of peaceful silence Isaac had nodded off, and while she was inclined to join him Ellie stayed awake in order to maintain the controls and keep an eye on his RIG, which had been steadily declining into a deep, flashing red as time progressed.

The comfort derived from the uneventful silence was too shallow for Ellie, who was plagued more and more by the pestilent cloud of uncertainty hanging over them. She was in the process of digesting everything Isaac had told her, but the more she tried to grasp of it, the more obvious it was how deeply entangled she had become in a situation she did not understand. Her preoccupation with escaping the Sprawl had kept her from putting any real thought into the matter before now, but she was beginning to see that due to the circumstances, being forever ostracized from their home planet was a fate that perhaps would not be forced upon Isaac alone.

_Now that she was his... accomplice._

She glanced at Isaac in the seat next to her, her inner conflict manifesting upon her face as she watched him. Even with the cooperative, almost natural bond they had developed in such a short period of time, in essence Isaac was still a complete stranger to her and she knew little about him apart from the fact that he had somehow been associated with the sick and dangerously deranged Nolan Stross. His maddening talk about his own personal involvement with the Marker only added to her concern, suggesting a much darker image of Isaac than the boldly heroic one she couldn't help but perceive of him. As this thought crossed her mind, she suddenly felt very embarrassed by how naive and sentimentally motivated her decision was to get involved with him, despite the success their partnership had reaped. On the other hand, as Isaac had proven to be nothing short of loyal to her up to this point, she hoped that there was no reason not to trust him.

_A few bad ties, maybe... but, there was just... something about him._

Ellie drew a deep, shaking breath, not wanting to linger any longer upon the subject. She was nervous as she turned to the communication controls, having assured Isaac that she had a trusted contact who could provide a place to get the supplies and medical attention they needed. But what she hadn't told him was that her contact was someone with whom she had not connected in a number of years.

_Was the old man even still alive? Damn.  
_

Knowing that in Isaac's condition she was going to have to make good on her word whether her contact was a valid option or not, Ellie wasted no further time. She hesitantly dialed the number she had memorized into the communication module, and waited on pins and needles as the holomonitor flickered intermittently. After receiving no response for several minutes, she began to fear that perhaps she had lost her connection after all.

_"... Hey... h'yello?"_

The lines of static suddenly cut to the distorted and choppy image of a scruffy, weathered old man with deep tanned skin, smoky grey, mutton-chopped facial hair and his head wrapped in a dark blue, wool head cap. Ellie was relieved to see the familiar old man's pinkish, sand blasted face, and she replied softly into the module.

"Armin... Armin! Hey, can you hear me?"

After a moment's pause due to the broadcast delay, the old man grinned on the other end, his wiry, sheepish beard splitting like a patch of breaking storm clouds beneath his chin.

_"... Ellie Langford? That you?"_

Ellie smiled warmly._  
_

"Yes, it's me. How's it hanging these days, you old fool?"

After another brief delay the old man smiled again, obviously very glad to recognize the person he was speaking to. His thick, lazy drawl of an accent cut through the static.

_"... Weh-ell, not too bad, Missy! Not too bad. Wow, gotta say I'm awful s'prised to see your pretty face 'gain. How long's it been?"_

While she was happy to see her old friend, the urgent situation that had initiated their long overdue reunion weakened Ellie's smile.

"I know this is short notice... but I, I need your help, Armin."

The man paused on the other end. Though he seemed a little disappointed, it was apparent that he was not surprised.

_"... Yeah, well, outta the blue like this, I figure this ain't no social call. But it's still good to see you 'gain, Ell. Glad to see yer still holdin' it together."_

"Yeah. Still, holding it together, I guess. It's good to see you, too. I was wondering if you were still... around."_  
_

He nodded.

_"Yep. Still livin', breathin'. So gawd help me, I ain't done yet." _

Ellie's smile returned, and looked down as the old man switched right to business.

"_So... what'cha need?" _

After a moment of consideration, she looked back up at the holomonitor with a glimmer of desperation in her eyes._  
_

"Look... it's nothing big, I just... I need a place to lay low for a bit, you know."

The grizzly old man raised an eyebrow, reaching up with a hand to adjust his woolen head cap.

_"Hmm... heh. Figured it'd be jes' a matter o'time before you couldn't take that clock-punchin' shit anymore. Finally spreadin' yer wings like the big birdies, eh?"_

She didn't say anything, and he chuckled in response.

_"Sure. Come on down. You know where to reach me. So, what's goin' on? You runnin' er somethin'?"_

Ellie stole a moment's glance back at Isaac, who was still sound asleep next to her.

"Sort of. But I've uh, I do have someone with me."

Almost immediately, the man became defensive.

_"... What's that? Who's this 'someone'?"_

"Just a friend. He's all right."

_"Jesus, Ell - you damn well know strangers ain't welcome here."_

"But he's hurt. He might die if he doesn't get some help soon. Please. We've got no where else to go, Armin."

Perturbed the old man's face flushed deeper pink, making his hoary facial hair stand out against it even more as he itched at his head through his wool cap.

_"Shit. Well, I suppose I could... make an exception fer ya, if'n ye trust 'im. How far out are ya?"_

"Not too far. A few hours, maybe."

He scowled a second time.

_"Damn it. 'Aint heard from ya in a dog's age, then you suddenly show up outta nowhere. With baggage."_

Ellie shook her head and pressed her palms together.

"I know, Armin. I know. I'm so sorry. You know that I wouldn't ask this of you if I had any other option."

Moved by the anguish in her voice, he was unsure of what to say.

_"... Well... ok. Just, uhh, just give me a buzz when you're close."_

A large, beaming grin of deliverance spread across Ellie's face.

"Yes... yes, thank you! You have no idea how much I appreciate this. I owe you one, big."

They quickly exchanged farewells, then Ellie deactivated the communication module. Once the holomonitor vanished she was once again absorbed in the deep, dark shadows of the cockpit, and she started to settle back in her seat when she suddenly heard a voice right next to her.

"Who was that?"

Startled, Ellie chirped and flipped around in her seat, only to be met by Isaac's dark-faced glare upon her. She was surprised to see that he was sitting up in his seat and fully awake, which was completely opposite of what she had just seen moments before, and this eerily reminded her of some of her necromorph encounters - those who had so perfectly played possum, appearing lifeless on the ground only to spring up unexpectedly to make a surprise strike. Disturbed by these ghoulish memories she drew a deep, nervous breath.

"Holy shit, you scared the hell out of me."

Isaac's expression remained unchanged, and he responded coldly.

"Who were you talking to?"

Ellie shrank back in her seat a little.

"That was Armin... my connection... at the Atoll. The place I was telling you about."

Isaac's eyes narrowed upon her.

"What did he mean, 'spreading your wings'?"

Ellie fumbled. He had apparently been awake longer than his dormant outer appearance had led her to believe.

"I... it was..."

He continued to stare her down through a glare that was as sharp as daggers, and realizing that he was suspicious of her she tilted her head, unable to avoid feeling somewhat hurt by the inference.

"It was nothing. Just a personal joke, term of endearment, like. Don't you trust me, Isaac?"

When he realized his harsh, interrogative behavior was invoking her uncertainty, Isaac backed down and slackened his posture.

"It's not you. I just can't afford to trust anyone right now."

He turned away, and Ellie quickly glanced at his wounded shoulder.

"Shit. How you doing?"

He irritably sideglanced her.

"Seen better days, Ellie."

"We'll be there soon. Just take it easy."

He didn't reply, and seeing as this appeared to be the end of their conversation for the time being, Ellie turned back to the controls. She could sense something was clearly disturbing him more than the physical aching of his wounds.

"… It's happening again."

She turned to him with a puzzled look.

"What's happening?"

Ellie saw that his dark scowl had been replaced by a blank, dead stare into nothing that was so frighteningly captivating it shocked her to look at him. His expression was almost lifeless, and it rendered any attempt to decipher his inner emotional turmoil impossible in that moment. Unable to tell if he was about to explode with rage or collapse into tears she quickly turned away, hoping he had not noticed her mortified gaze upon him.

"I... I had a terrible dream."

Hearing his words, she kept her eyes out the window.

"Well, I'm sure we're both going to have serious nightmares for some time to come."

Isaac shook his head.

"No. This was..."

He finally looked up to find that Ellie was staring at him again. He could see the fear behind her eyes despite valiant efforts to conceal it beneath her rough, calcified elegance, and wanting to put her at ease he decided that it wasn't necessary to burden her any further at this point with his problems. He slowly turned away.

"... Nevermind. It was just a dream."

* * *

For some reason, Isaac had a bad feeling about Ellie's connection from the start. Once they had finally arrived at the designated outpost and he saw it with his own eyes, he was immediately convinced that his suspicions were not at all unfounded.

Hub-7768, or 'the Atoll' as Ellie called it, was just as she had described - a small, nondescript and outdated transport hub with an adjoining hangar, tightly orbiting a small cluster of asteroids and so far off the beaten routes through this sector that finding it would have been a challenge for anyone who did not have specific coordinates. Ellie had briefly explained before their arrival that the Atoll once catered to many travelers passing between Saturn and Jupiter, but over time had dried up as major arteries of space travel inevitably shifted out of the area. Nowadays, save for its owner and sole maintainer who also happened to be Ellie's contact, the Atoll was as deserted as a ghost town.

"The Atoll, huh?"

As they approached its deteriorating hangar, the whole place seemed dark, lifeless and every bit as foreboding as the USG Ishimura to Isaac. Wondering how Ellie could know refuge in such an exiled and unwelcoming place, his wild, unsteady thoughts turned to the betrayal that seemed to shadow him wherever he went.

_This had all the signs of a trap.  
_

Still, despite the resonating alarms of all his senses about this place, Isaac refused to think that Ellie could be anything other than a perfect ally, and he figured that his paranoia had just gotten the better of him. Silently putting his faith in her Isaac took the back seat as Ellie again called her contact, who then guided them into the Atoll's hangar. Once they initiated the gravity tethers and were safely docked, Isaac leaned into the cockpit glass, looking all around the hangar for any signs of life - or danger.

"What's the matter?"

He didn't answer her as he pressed a hand to the glass and continued to look around the hangar, seeing no one. Again, wild thoughts raced through his mind.

_Kendra, Dana... not even Nolan. They all tried to help, but in the end...  
_

He briefly glanced at Ellie, a deep frown tearing into his haggard face as fear reprised itself.

"No. I don't like this, Ellie."

Sensing his hesitation but not quite understanding it, she glared at him.

"Would you please relax? You're making me... jumpy."

Reluctant as he was to get out of the gunship, Isaac knew they would have to sooner or later. Ellie sought to lighten the situation with a joking mood.

"Don't worry! There are no necromorphs here, we're safe."

Isaac looked up, and eying her sharply he muttered unintelligibly under his breath.

_Except us._

"What?"

He shook his head and took a deep breath, exhaustion evident in his paling skin and heavy eyes.

"Nothing. Ok. Let's uh, let's go see your... friend."

Ellie opened the gunship hatch and Isaac stood to his feet alongside her. She headed toward the hatch and he started to follow, but the moment he put weight onto his left side Isaac groaned and grabbed at his wounded shoulder. Seeing how he was struggling to remain standing, Ellie quickly stepped in.

"Whoa, whoa - hang on. Here, let me help you."

She caught him under the shoulder, and as he wrapped his arm around her neck she was a bit taken by how large he was up close. She chuckled.

"Boy, you sure are a big fish, aren't you? Like a shark."

Isaac could give her little more than a fading smirk as she helped him out of the ship. In the floodlights of the Atoll's hangar, Ellie saw with much dismay the gruesome damage he had endured, which she had apparently not taken notice of in the much dimmer lighting of gunship's cockpit.

"Good lord."

He was covered in blood from head to toe, though surely not all of it his own. His face was pale, sunken and devoid of luster as if he had not slept in years. The pain he was suffering was visible in the deep, dilated pupils of his bloodshot eyes, and every inch of skin along his neck and head was dotted by a layer of beaded sweat and mingling blood. Seeing that his eyelids kept falling and he started to waver, Ellie became worried that he might pass out.

"What the... what the hell happened to you two?"

Ellie glanced up at the sound of what she recognized to be Armin's voice. The bantam old codger had rounded the corner to their left and paused in the doorway when he saw Isaac, leaning heavily into Ellie's shoulder. She forewent any formal introductions and urgently motioned with her hand.

"Quick, help me! Help me bring him inside. He's really hurt."

Shocked by the drama he had unwittingly walked into at first Armin briefly faltered, then stepped in to grab a hold of Isaac from the other side. He and Ellie caught Isaac just in time as his eyes finally rolled, his head pitched back and he suddenly dropped, becoming dead weight between the two of them. Once secured they slowly carried him into the Atoll, and Armin couldn't help but chuckle lightheartedly along the way.

"Gee Ellie, I can see this is goin' t'be an interesting visit. Wearin' the boys out like ya do, ainch'a?"

Ellie sideglanced him and smirked.

"Don't start with me, Armin. It's been a very long day."


	4. The Ties That Bind

**Chapter 4****  
****The Ties That Bind**

* * *

Although Earth was over a billion kilometers away from the now nonexistent Titan Station, the news of its tragedy reached home very quickly. Of course, this was due in part to the Church factions within Earthgov who had already known about the preceding necromorph outbreak, so that the station had finally been lost was not the most shocking realization among them. Many had considered the loss to be the inevitable price of progress in their studies on the Marker, and from here on out it was merely a matter of damage control.

Within the main Church headquarters situated on Earth was Overseer Decatur Gresham, who was among the first of his congregation to receive the news. As the remote authority over Hans Teidemann and the Sprawl's Marker reconstruction project, he was devastated to learn about the undoing of all their work and of the challenge that would now lie ahead to keep the ever-weakening ties between Earthgov and the Church from completely dissolving altogether. Still, as he listened to the grim reports coming in over his RIG, the Overseer met them with a blank, stoic expression that conveyed absolutely none of his inner turmoil.

_So. The Enigma must inevitably come to pass.  
_

Gresham turned his gaze out one of the large windows spanning the walls of his office, stroking his long, sullen chin. He then called for his assistant, who swiftly entered the room and stood before Gresham's desk as if having materialized out of thin air.

"What can I do for you, Sir?"

The assistant saw that the Overseer was crossly drumming the dark, synthetic oak surface of his desk with his bony fingers, frowning bitterly.

"That witch isn't answering my calls. You bring her to me, now."

Knowing exactly who Gresham was referring to the assistant nodded obediently, and he quickly made his way back out of the room with his eyes aimed reverently at the floor. The assistant then headed directly for the Vested housing complex on the other side of the compound, which involved a trek through a heavily congested main concourse, followed by a slow elevator ride up the citadel that housed a majority of the Church's Earth-based Vested class.

When he finally arrived, the assistant made his way down the plush, blood red and black banded carpeting of the hallway toward the appropriate suite with a dutiful stride in his step, and he approached the door. He timidly activated the communication panel upon it, and a moment later the intercom speaker hissed with the sharp, crystalline projection of a woman's voice in response.

_"Yes. What do you want?"_

The assistant uncomfortably shifted his weight on his feet as he stared at the immaculate details of the door's silver laminate trim.

"Sister, I'm sorry to disturb you. Overseer Gresham wants you in his office right away."

The assistant began to fidget nervously as he awaited a response. The voice on the other end remained silent for some time, until he could hear an irritated sigh over the intercom.

_"Can't this wait?"_

"It's urgent, Sister. I'm not to return without you."

Upon this, the communication panel suddenly flickered off. The hololock disengaged and the door finally slid open to reveal a handsomely matured, aristocratic looking woman standing beyond it. She was beautiful, tall and graceful as a willow tree while she stared with sharp eyes at Gresham's assistant. Everything about her spoke of extravagance; she was bundled in a well tailored velveteen robe, her thin figure nearly lost beneath it's shimmering black fabric and gold, Marker symbol-embroidered trim. Adorned all over with valuable gems, lockets and other jewelery, her skin was as stark as ziarat marble against her long, silvery-raven black hair, which was pinned in a bun to her head by a variety of lavishly jeweled picks. Despite her advanced age she was a sign of pure upper class, absolutely stunning, and an unnaturally vibrant luster about her entire body cast her in a much younger light that was almost disturbing. This, coupled with the maddened, emerald flames burning in her eyes, made this Sister of the Church appear to be every bit as much a witch as the Overseer had suggested.

Sensing his hesitation, the woman raised a finely chiseled eyebrow at Gresham's assistant.

"Hmm. What's so urgent?"

The assistant continued to look down submissively at the floor without a word, and she stepped out the door.

"It must be _some_thing. He's already called me. Twice. Well... on with you, then."

The assistant humbly nodded, never once looking the Sister in the eye, and started to lead her back to the citadel's elevators. They traveled the remaining distance back to the main compound in complete silence.

Once they arrived the assistant opened the hololock to Gresham's office, and the Sister immediately strode past him through the open doorway. She proceeded into the large, spacious room, listening to the echoes of her own footsteps, and she marched right up to the Overseer's desk. She flashed him what appeared to be a taunting smirk, then intertwining her hands before her chest she dispassionately greeted him with the Marker Unitologist salutation.

"You wanted to see me… Sir."

Gresham folded his hands upon his desk, taking note of her cold, provocative grin but expressing no reaction to it. Instead, he very blankly proceeded to inform her of the reason he had summoned her.

"Titan Station is gone. It has been destroyed."

The Sister did not respond right away. She stood before his desk with an indecipherable expression as she took the time to process what he had just said, and her face slowly fell into a wide-eyed, gaping stare of dreaded comprehension.

"... What about Isaac?"

The Overseer's face grew a little darker.

"No one knows. Perhaps you can shed some light on this."

The Sister remained silent, so he continued on.

"The station was evacuated. But it doesn't matter. None of our key players made it out alive. Tiedemann, all the subjects they found, the reconstruction team... the Marker itself... all gone. The only thing we have left is the research they managed to send to us before everything happened."

The Sister had hardly heard the Overseer's morose encapsulation of the events. She was uninterested in all of it but for one point of concern.

"They haven't found him?"

Gresham shook his head solemnly.

"Isaac's body was never found. While we've lost track of his subchip's signal, we can't confirm that it's been terminated."

"So, he may still be alive."

Gresham's frown hung deeper as he saw the gleam of hope in the Sister's eyes. He leaned forward into his hands, sighing deeply with disgust.

"This whole thing has become a real goddamn mess, Octavia."

The Sister nodded patronizingly and looked down.

"I know, Sir."

"... A mess that has been instigated entirely by your son. And by _you._"

The Sister's head shot up, and she stared defiantly at Gresham through the dark, jade shards of her eyes.

"No - your idiot scientists instigated this. This is _their_ fault. Isaac has done exactly what you all wanted, even if he didn't know it."

Gresham stiffened defensively.

"I warned you, Octavia. I told you you were pushing too hard for him. There were other... more qualified candidates. I knew we should have stopped at the first sign of rejection."

The Sister stamped her foot and dared to shake her finger angrily in Gresham's face despite that he was, by far, her superior.

"More qualified? That's bullshit! Everyone was in agreement from the start that Isaac has a potential that no other subject ever has. It was your incompetent staff - including that fucking moron Tiedemann - were too and didn't know how to deal with that, it becomes Isaac's fault? This is absolutely ridiculous. I should have been there, Sir. I should have been there from the start. This wouldn't have happened under my watch."

The Overseer was solid as a glacier even as her immaculately polished fingernail came just centimeters from grazing the tip of his nose.

"He is an anomaly, Sister. The Oracles have been saying it for years, despite his invaluable assistance to the project. I still don't understand why you don't agree with them."

Her thinly chiseled lip curled in disdain as she sneered at the Church's elite.

"If you trust what the Oracles have to say about Isaac, then you're even more ignorant than they are."

She took a moment to collect herself, recognizing that she had stepped out of line. She swept the locks of her loosened, silvery black hair back behind her ear, straightened her posture as she tried to judge Gresham's impassive expression, then calmly started to speak again.

"You're trying to control divine powers by way of fools' leadership. It's no wonder Isaac was too much for them to handle... not a one of them knew what to expect, and they weren't ready."

Gresham finally shifted an eyebrow in response.

"You know, Sister... I've helped your son a lot over the years. Perhaps more than I should have. And now, look what's happening. He's turning against us."

She tilted her head.

"He's not turning against us. Sacrifice is simply a part of every great endeavor, Sir. We just have to look at the bigger picture."

His face sharpened like a blade at her disingenuous attempt to placate him.

"Do you even understand the gravity of what has happened, Octavia? Years of research are lost, thousands are dead because of him. With a... a 'picture' as big as this, I wouldn't be surprised if EarthGov tries to shut us down completely. What your son has done could destroy any chances we have with the project, and lead us all to be permanently excommunicated. Not to mention that if Isaac _is_ still alive, they'll see to it that he won't be for long. Do you understand that?"

Octavia was not convinced.

"How do you even know it was Isaac who caused this? It could have been a technical foul-up, for all we know. Those EarthGov monkeys were all over the place, and we know _they_ can't do anything right."

Gresham frowned again, leaning into his hand as he tried to suppress a deep sigh.

"All of this happened just hours after Isaac's escape from the hospital. And the numerous reports we received from P-Sec... tracking him all the way to the government sector, right to the silo where the Marker was stored. Incidentally which, was also exactly where they estimated to be the origin of the initial explosion that set off the reactor. Do you think that he was just some innocent bystander, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time? You really think he had nothing to do with it?"

The Sister drew a breath and then paused, not entirely sure Gresham would accept what she was about to say.

"... Who cares if he did?"

His eyes widened in disbelief and he just stared at her, aghast by her complete disregard. She turned around to avoid his disapproving scowl, and approached one of the windows of his office.

"It doesn't matter. What happened to Titan Station is insignificant compared to the glorious new age we can usher in through its sacrifice. If we can just find him, get him back here on Earth, we can build a new Marker... a better one! And it will be in our hands - in _our_ hands, on the ground, and not in the hands of monkeys over a trillion miles away where we have no control."

"You know we can't have an activated Marker here. We run the risk of that goddamn, _alien_ outbreak happening here! As many people were lost on the Sprawl, the population of Earth is still nearly a hundred thousand times that... it would be... unimaginable."

"No. that won't happen, not if I'm directly involved. Isaac's been imprinted with the cleanest codes we've ever seen, and if I can just get him to listen to me, we **can** develop a perfect Marker!"

"I hardly think that's the case, Sister. It's no secret how he feels about you."

Her eyes glimmered darkly.

"That all will change once I have him under my control."

Gresham chuckled with disbelief.

"With all due respect Sister, you couldn't control him when he was a child, what makes you think you can do it now?"

"Oh, children are inexperienced and naturally impudent. He just wasn't ready then. But Isaac is not a child anymore. It's been many years. He'll understand once we meet eye to eye and I can explain things to him. "

Gresham was in tight situation; knowing that while her only desire in all of this was to increase her own power in the Church through her son's position as a unwitting Maker, as Vested as she was he had no other alternative to working with her. Isaac had unknowingly proven to be the key they needed to unlock the Marker's vast cache of secrets, and Gresham knew that his only chance of finding Isaac would be through the Oracular guidance of Octavia Clarke.

"So... what do you want to do?"

The Sister looked down in a moment of thought.

"I need to speak with him."

"And how do you intend to do that? We don't even know if he's alive."

She again looked out the window to watch the dying, twilight streaks of red and orange fade upon the horizon. She slowly closed her eyes in silent meditation then opened them again several moments later, turning to the Overseer with a grim smile stretching across her face.

"I know Isaac. He's alive. I'm willing to stake everything I have on it."


	5. The Signal Is Spreading

**Chapter 5  
The Signal Is Spreading**

* * *

With some effort, Ellie and her friend Armin made their way to the Atoll's private infirmary with Isaac, unconscious. As Armin directed them toward one of the rooms, the motion detecting fluorescent floodlights lining the walkway abruptly snapped on one by one, dispersing the stifling darkness in the wake of their passing. The room they hobbled into was small, cramped and more like an expanded storage closet than a medical lab room.

Once inside, they struggled to lay Isaac's body out upon an old gurney in the center of the room, which looked as if it hadn't been used or even touched in years. Armin and Ellie then both started to carefully remove Isaac's RIG, and the external armor plating of his suit. Armin took a moment to catch his breath, feeling a little expended from the work, and he clumsily swept some dust off the edges of the old gurney.

"Not the cleanest I know, but I ain't been in here for a while. Git some water from the sink, there."

Armin pointed toward a nearby wash basin, and Ellie quickly collected some hot water and a few towels. Armin walked across the room toward a large, antiquated medical lamp that was stored in the corner, and wheeled it over next to the gurney Isaac was lying upon. He then casually slipped on a pair of surgical gloves and turned on the lamp, which hummed to life a few flickering moments later. Ellie watched nervously over his shoulder from behind as he began his examination.

"You think he's going to be ok?"

Armin paused to retrieve a pair of dirty, smeared glasses from his front shirt pocket and slipped them on.

"Eh, dunno just yet."

From the start, Armin was fascinated. Having been somewhat of a recluse living alone upon a deserted, remote outpost, he had not experienced much outside interaction for some time - what to speak of keeping up with the latest advancements in space explorative technology from distant places. The old man was childishly amazed by Isaac's Advanced Suit, the many features of which he was personally unfamiliar with. On the other hand, Armin was also mortified by the inordinate amount of damage, blood and what appeared to be small chunks of dark red flesh that was clinging to Isaac's body from practically everywhere. It was the most astonishing and disturbing sight that he had beheld in many, many years.

"Geez... that all, uhh, his blood?"

Ellie, able to see how unsettled he was, peered around and shook her head tensely.

"No. He, he was in a fight."

The hesitation in her voice suggested that Ellie was not being fully forthcoming, and Armin sensed there was something strange going on that she was trying to conceal. He had noticed that she also was wounded and covered in blood, the most alarming injury being her missing eye. But concerned as he was as her friend, Armin couldn't help but smile as all this began to remind him of his much younger days, when his own life had been just as reckless and full of shady secrets.

"A fight, huh? Must've been quite a match."

Ellie smiled nervously.

"Yeah. You could say that."

Armin's grin grew a little wider from behind his hoary beard.

"Heh, reminds me of the good ole' days."

Ellie just forced a distant smile. She was tired, and becoming frustrated with the throbbing pain of her eye, which had not been so severe until now. She kept rubbing the dirty, makeshift eye patch, quietly whimpering as her other eye formed a tear of pain every now and then, and Armin feared that she was in just as much need of critical treatment as her unconscious companion. His smile faded a little.

"So... you haven't told meh ver' much 'bout what happened to yuz... Care to uh, talk 'bout it?"

Feeling a little dazed Ellie had not heard him, and when she didn't answer Armin waved his hand in front of her face. She looked at it, distantly.

"Oh, I… I was… in a, a fight... too."

He sensed how nervous she was, so he stopped her with a gentle nod of compassion.

"S'allright, Ellie. Don't worry 'bout it. We'll fix it."

They smiled at each other in a moment of mutual understanding, and Armin finally turned his attention back to Isaac. Looking closer he could see that Isaac was riddled with scratches and lacerations, and needing to get down to the skin, he started searching for a way to remove Isaac's suit. Armin's fascination with the Advanced Suit's upgrades reprised as he picked at the delicate circuitry of its zero-gravity jet propulsion system.

"... Geez, pretty tech-no-logical gadetry, here. Ain't seen no engineer's suit like this one before, must be a new model, er somethin'."

Armin's eyes then jumped to the gaping, bleeding wound in Isaac's chest.

"So, what happened to him? Can'ya least tell meh that?"

Ellie returned to pacing back and forth behind Armin, rubbing her eye.

"Not sure. He told me he was shot with a javelin gun."

Armin was surprised to hear this, considering how close the impact wound in his chest was to his heart. Grabbing a pair of surgical steel scissors, he began to tug gently at Isaac's collar, tearing open a seam in the suit.

"How in the hell he get shot with a javelin gun?"

Though Armin didn't see it, Ellie rolled her eyes behind him.

"Well... someone shot him, obviously."

Armin raised his furry eyebrows over the rims of his glasses as he positioned the blade of his scissors against the torn seam. With a perfectly steady hand he then slid the blade along the surface of Isaac's chest, splitting the suit's underlining effortlessly. He then grabbed the split seam and pulled it back, exposing Isaac's torso down to his undershirt.

"Whoa."

Armin was shocked to see that even underneath the secure lining of the Advanced Suit, somehow Isaac was covered in tacky, dark blood and chunk-like particles of flesh. His skin and clothing were thoroughly soaked and dyed nearly black by it, and as it all became exposed to the air, Armin suddenly had to cover his face with his arm to keep from gagging on the scent of rancid, rotting flesh.

"Holy mother of god...!"

Alarmed by Armin's outcry, Ellie glanced over his shoulder at Isaac. The moment she saw and smelled the gruesome sight for herself, her eyes widened, her lip curled with fear and she covered her face with her hand.

"What the hell..."

Armin was speechless as he looked over the strange, repulsive network of decomposing matter clinging to Isaac's body. It took him a moment to work up the nerve to continue his work, and he removed the rest of the suit in silence, stopping here and there to catch his breath.

"... Yeah... one hell'uva fight, I'd say."

Armin was uttlerly baffled and disgusted by what he saw, yet his inquisitive nature compelled him to reach out to touch the ominous, veiny dark threads with his fingers, some of which he thought appeared to be glowing a very faint, deep blood red - but a quick, sharp poke in the ribs from Ellie stopped him. He paused for a moment, trying to derive some logical explanation for all this.

"Hmm... well, looks like this suit's built fer extended wear - got itself' one 'dem fancy waste filtration systems built into it. Maybe he used it at some point, and it... leaked."

Though she hoped that was indeed all it was, Ellie twisted her lip in doubt over Armin's conclusion. While she was no chemist by any means, the veil clinging to Isaac's body was just to alien and too xenobiotic in appearance to be the remains of human excrement. Adding to her doubt was the odd fact that the dark, grisly threads seemed to avoid coming into any sort of contact with Isaac's critical wounds, instead diverting themselves around the perimeter of the holes in his chest and hand. Both Armin and Ellie struggled to continue without getting distracted by the grotesque sight.

"Well... those, javelins obviously were smooth and straight. No shrapnel, no tapering... not too much... tissue damage..."

As Armin closer examined the wound in Isaac's hand, he started to hear what he thought were faint, whispering voices.

**make us whole**

"... Lucky, lucky they stayed so clean. Hmm... I'd say a couple of gel plug grafts, and he should be ok… real simple. Minus whatever the fuck this is, 'course..."

**make us whole**

Ellie just stared at Isaac with a gravely concerned look upon her face, knowing that while Armin may not have known what this was, she was certain that she did. She briefly debated telling Armin about the necromorph scourge aboard the Sprawl and what horrors she and Isaac had just escaped from, but she figured it best to wait until he was awake before divulging too much information to her old friend. Seeking to move forward with their work, she reached for a pair of surgical gloves from the nearby table and tied a washcloth over her nose and mouth.

"C'mon, I'll help you get him cleaned up."

After donning her gloves she paused her hands just above Isaac's body, hesitant in a moment of fear to come in contact with what she suspected to be the necromorph corruption. She hoped that it was wasn't alive to defend itself by splitting into a million vicious larvae between her fingers, and taking a deep breath to steady herself she reached down and grabbed a handful of the bloody, spidery threads. She gave a gentle pull, and much to her surprise they snapped right off with no resistance like a clump of dead twigs. Seeing they were apparently harmless she felt encouraged, beginning to tear at it with both hands.

"It's almost dry. There's no fresh blood at all."

Armin, still bewildered by what he was seeing, was a little reluctant to join her at first. But once he saw there was nothing to fear, he tied a handkerchief around his own face and started to work alongside Ellie. Starting at one end and she at the other, together they worked at pulling the fine network of dried flesh and blood from off Isaac's entire body, tossing the removed entrails into a mounting pile in the sink.

Ellie abandoned her fear almost entirely as they acclimated to the task, enough to even strike up small talk with her friend.

"It really is good to see you again, Armin. It's been a long time. I'm sorry it had to, you know, be like this."

Armin laughed.

"Oh, not a problem, dear. Real happy to see ya, you know you're always welcome here, no matter what. You're always bringing me something fun to do."

Ellie softly smiled, feeling more and more relieved to talk about something casual.

"So, is it just you here these days?"

Armin nodded, sharing in the exact same sentiment.

"I have a few folks who come n' go every now n' then, but mostly just me."

Ellie managed to pull off a rather stubborn patch of bloody sinew sticking to the side of Isaac's neck, and she glared sharply at it before tossing it into the sink.

"But what happened to everybody else? You had a whole crew here at one point, I remember."

Armin shrugged, never once taking his eyes off his work as he yanked a few straps of flesh belting Isaac's side.

"Everyone's done taken off for richer pastures these days. This hole's all dried out."

"What? You're kidding."

"Yep. The CEC came through here a batch o' years ago. Ain't nothin' left for anyone to pick through no more."

Ellie seemed surprised.

"Really? So... the boys, they just left you here?"

Armin smiled with a bit of clemency.

"Oh, it's not like that, now... They tried to stick around for a while. Mueller, Cassevete, a couple from his team... but there just aint' enough of a livin' to be had out here, anymore. They's all left about a year ago."

"Why didn't you go with them?"

Armin grinned toothily and shrugged at Ellie's concern.

"I'm too old for the life, nowadays. I can't keep up with them birds no more."

She looked down, the pace of her work slowing a little.

"I don't know how you do it. How do you not go out of your mind all alone all the time?"

Armin tilted his head.

"I've always been able to handle it pretty well. Born to it, I feel. Every once in a while, something excitin' happens, like you showin' up after all these years."

They both smiled and returned to their work, completing it in friendly silence. Once they had cleared most of the corruption from Isaac's body, Armin finally stepped back and pressed his hands to his sides.

"We gotta get him outta these clothes. They're rotten."

He grabbed his cutters again and Ellie stepped back, taking the moment to loosen her towel and breathe air that was a little fresher a few feet away. Armin then proceeded to cut Isaac out of his blood soaked clothing, noticing how shy Ellie suddenly became as she looked away.

"Heh - I take it you two ain't that acquainted with each other."

Ellie shook her head, still turned the other way.

"No. We uh, we just recently met, actually."

The old man raised a thick eyebrow at her.

"Eh, just met? Thought ye said he was yer friend."

She paused for a moment of thought, and then shrugged her shoulder.

"Well... he is."

While he was disturbed by the fact that Ellie would bring someone she wasn't thoroughly familiar with to his pit of seclusion, Armin still trusted and respected her enough not to question it any further. Seeing his restraint, Ellie finally looked at him.

"Trust me, Armin. This is... It's just, we've both been through... a lot. I can't explain it right now."

Ellie stood with her back to him, waiting for Armin to finish disrobing Isaac. When he was done, Armin covered him from the waist down with a sheet and then slapped his palms together. Hearing this Ellie turned back around, and Armin nodded affirmatively with a smile.

"Ok, let's wash 'im up, n' get those gel plugs in."

Armin leaned into the side of the gurney, knocking off one of the RIG straps still dangling from the corner of it. When the strap hit the floor, Ellie suddenly heard a soft, tinkering sound as something very small and shiny skidded across the metal floorboards.

"What was that?"

Ellie pursued the object, and when it was within her reach she quickly snatched for it. She held it up between her fingers and stared closely at it, faintly recognizing what appeared to be a slender, sharp, half-inch long shard of onyx stone, scintillating in her hand. Not entirely sure what it was, she deftly slipped it into her pocket as Armin looked curiously at her.

"Well, what is it?"

Ellie glanced back, and shook her head.

"Oh, it's nothing. It belongs to Isaac. I'll just hang on to it until he's awake."


	6. Alternative Healing

**Chapter 6  
Alternative Healing**

* * *

_A chilling sensation begins to spread across Isaac's back, arms and legs, and he slowly opens his eyes to harsh overhead lighting that blinds him from above. He realizes that he is lying upon a cold operating table, in the center of a vapid, clinically white-walled room that he does not recognize. Beginning to feel alone and frightened he looks around wildly - that is, until he is suddenly drawn to a sharp, painful sting upon the back of his left hand. He tries to push himself up, only to be met with a pressure upon his shoulder strong enough to force him back down._

**relax**

_Right away, Isaac recognizes the dull, colorless voice; reluctant to move however, he just continues to lie helplessly upon the icy steel table beneath him, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light. As dark, converging shadows finally become sharper and more distinct Isaac can see the Hive Mind, who is still disguised in his own likeness and sitting in a chair right next to the table he is lying upon. Isaac immediately becomes alarmed by the close proximity of his seemingly inescapable nemesis, and though feeling too faint to speak, he struggles to call out._

H, hey, wha...

_Isaac immediately feels another sharp, jabbing pain in the back of his hand. He looks down again and finds the Hive Mind is holding his left arm down upon the table while bringing a small surgical needle repeatedly across his hand in a slow, circular motion, engaged in the work of stitching the punctured flesh closed. And, he is doing it all flawlessly, unhindered in movement and completely disconnected from his work like a fine tuned machine. Isaac winces at the prick of the needle piercing his flesh again and again, and seeing his reaction the Hive Mind looks down at him through dark eyes._

**we are almost done**

_Isaac gives no response as he looks the Hive Mind over in silence. While physically they are for the most part still identical, he now is starting to see slight differences between them that he had not noticed before. _

_The Hive Mind's skin has darkened, along with the deep, emerald shade of his eyes to a color like slate. Still dressed in an identical Advanced Suit, the sleeves and gloves have now been removed, leaving only the torso lining intact. The exposed skin of the Hive Mind's neck, arms and hands is lacerated with tiny, red lines, and the tips of his fingers are even darker than the rest of his hands, like permanent blood stains. Most notably, despite the javelin damage still present upon the suit, the chest wound underneath it has vanished and the skin is now completely intact, along with the wound on his hand._

_Seeing this reminds Isaac of his own critical wounds, and he quickly reaches up with his free hand. As he touches the tender, painful wound area upon his chest he feels not a hole as expected, but instead a fine network of sutures across his skin and the wound is safely sealed. In response to Isaac's astonished expression, the Hive Mind smirks._

**no need to thank us they are doing all of the work**

_The Hive Mind's words disturb Isaac. _

Who's 'they'?

_The Hive Mind ignores his inquiry._

**time is running out**

_Another thread slides into Isaac's hand, and the sharp sting spurs him to clench his teeth. However, the Hive Mind pays his distress no heed._

**we have to leave our benefactors know we are here**

_In his weakened state, Isaac is overwhelmed by the demanding tone of the Hive Mind. He starts to retaliate._

No. I don't... Who knows? Where -

_The Hive Mind stops him with another swift jab of the needle into his hand_.

**the marker is always with you**

_Isaac stares at him in wide eyed disbelief._

... But... but that was just a dream. It was a dream! It wasn't real. The Marker... was destroyed!

**everything is real the marker lives on in you**

_Isaac shakes his head furiously._

No. No! It's impossible. I don't believe it!

_The Hive Mind glares darkly at him._

**isaac what you believe is irrelevant**

_Upon Isaac's speechlessness, the Hive Mind chuckles cynically._

**we will decide what to do with your friend later**

_Isaac's blood runs cold as he realizes the Hive Mind is talking about Ellie, and it suddenly dawns upon him that he does not see her anywhere in the room. Suspecting that her safety may be threatened, Isaac's expression stiffens with anger._

You... you leave her alone. You fucking leave her alone.

_The Hive Mind looks at Isaac with a sense of amusement, then returns to his suture job_.

**she is already dead the signal is spreading and it cannot be stopped you must let go**

_Isaac lowers his eyes, so devastated by these words that he unable to look the Hive Mind in the eye any longer. Sensing how crushed Isaac feels in that moment, the Hive Mind seeks to reconcile with him._

**embrace the time you have together as limited as it will be**

_Isaac finds the courage to look up his enemy one more time, only to find a penetratingly dark glare upon him that rattles him so deeply that he cannot properly respond. With a swift motion of his hand, the Hive Mind breaks the thread from the needle and ties off the suture, completing his work upon Isaac's hand._

**it is almost time to wake up isaac time is short make us whole wake up isaac wake up wake up_  
_**


	7. Clearing The Air

**Chapter 7  
Clearing The Air**

* * *

"Isaac... Isaac, wake up..."

A gentle, beckoning voice was drawing Isaac back to outer consciousness. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw Ellie's face staring down at him from above. Though the vision was blurry, he saw as the small, curious smile across her lips stretched wider once she realized he was awake.

"Hey! Well, look who finally came back to life."

Isaac was relieved to see such a familiar and welcoming face as she took a step back to give him some room, and he started to look around. He recognized the small, sterile white-walled operating room they were in as the same one from his dream, only now the lights were dimmed, everything was clean and the Hive Mind was nowhere to be found. Ellie, having no idea of the nightmare he had just awakened from, just smiled.

"I was beginning to worry about you. You okay?"

Isaac pushed up from the operating table and examined himself. He was shocked that he had been out long enough to have been fully bathed and his wounds treated and dressed, his Advanced Suit replaced by a pale white cotton t-shirt and shorts. A small plastic wrap on his wrist hinted at the temporary use of a catheter that had since been removed, but in spite of the stitches of his chest and hand wounds, he could not remember having undergone any invasive surgery. He rubbed his face and grumbled confusedly.

"I uhh, I'm allright, I guess."

Ellie eyed Isaac's somewhat demoralized expression with a little concern. He kept looking at himself with a sense of saddened uncertainty, running his hands across his skin, amazed that he could see something other than the Advanced Suit that had practically become a part of him.

"... You're sure? If you need more time..."

Isaac looked upon her with a overwrought stare, plagued by the dubiety of whether he was actually awake or not.

"... No. It's okay."

Isaac saw that Ellie also had the opportunity to clean herself up in the time he had been unconscious, and he turned his focus upon her. Despite a few scrapes and bruises still remaining here and there her complexion was clean, free of blood smear and scuff marks, and she had exchanged her damaged CEC pilot's uniform for a clean grey tank top and knee-length cargo shorts. Her hair was no longer bound into matted, bloodied pigtails but had been thoroughly washed and brushed, pouring freely down her back and shoulders like a silken, auburn waterfall. She still displayed some of the toll of her exhaustion, which did not surprise him, but she was clearly in much higher spirits as she bore a smile that was more relaxed than anything he had yet come to see out of her.

"Do you feel strong enough to get up?"

The woman's rejuvenated appearance was so diametrically opposite the haggard, desperate survivor Isaac had met aboard the Sprawl that it seemed she was an entirely different person before him now; and caught up in a moment of wonder over this fact, Isaac failed to answer her. Now that her underlying beauty had been given the chance to manifest, like that of a priceless jewel excavated after centuries of burial and restored to its original luster, he secretly realized that before this moment he had not fully recognized just how mysteriously elegant and feminine a creature Ellie Langford really was.

His expression slowly fell limp as his eyes remained locked in trance upon her. Thinking he was still dazed from having just awakened from his deep sleep, Ellie snapped her fingers playfully in his face.

"Come back to me, Isaac."

It was then that he also noticed that her injured eye had been cleaned, covered by a discreet, flesh-colored patch that was carefully trimmed to fit and blended with her tone so perfectly that it was almost as if natural skin had grown over her eye socket. Relieved to see that she had somehow been taken care of, he smiled.

"Your eye's fixed."

Ellie had nearly forgotten about her injury after the pain had subsided. She raised her hand and covered the patch, still feeling somewhat embarrassed about it.

"Oh… yeah. Not entirely, yet. Just a temp fix. I don't have a migraine anymore, so that's a step in the right direction, I think."

Isaac smiled, but still feeling highly disoriented he fought to keep his eyes open. His smile faded as his thoughts came to be replaced by the anxiety to know what had happened while he was unconscious, and he took a deep breath, preparing to stand.

"Jesus... How long was I out?"

"About thirty hours, or so."

Isaac snapped his head in her direction, obviously shocked by her reply.

"Thirty _hours?"_

"Now you see why I started to worry."

Ellie's revelation only put him even further on edge. He didn't like the idea of having been out for so long, especially during such a critical time when remaining in one place for too long was the most dangerous thing they could do. The fire of apprehension ignited within him, and all desire to continue his convalescence immediately burned to ashes. Without responding to Ellie, Isaac gripped the table and slipped off onto his feet, but in his weakened state his knees buckled the moment he put his weight onto them. Ellie caught him around the waist, doing her best to brace him, along with herself.

"Oh geez, I keep forgetting how heavy you are."

"Where are we? What is this place?"

"The Atoll. Don't you remember?"

Driven to feel a little uncomfortable by his hard stare upon her, Ellie became mildly defensive and looked away.

"I told you that at least twice, already."

She was sure he was about to say something disagreeable; however, he instead just lowered his gaze and muttered under his breath.

"... I remember."

Sensing how anxious he was for some sort of explanation, Ellie took the moment to fill him in on the details... still neglecting to tell him about the viral infestation found inside his suit, or of the tiny little rock fragment she had recovered.

"You were hurt pretty uhh, pretty badly. So we stitched you up... cleaned you up... everything. Had to keep an eye on you there for a little while, 'cause you lost a lot of blood."

Her voice lifted.

"Oh, and we also had some time to get a start on dismantling the gunship, so EarthGov won't be able to track us here. We've already prepped a clean cruiser to leave out in."

"'We'?"

"Armin and I."

Having forgotten about him up to now, Isaac suddenly remembered the scroungy-sounding old man he had listened to over Ellie's RIG before arriving at the Atoll, along with the subsequent uneasiness he carried for this place.

"You hungry?"

Ellie's voice startled him.

"Ah - huh? What'd you say?"

"'You wanna get something to eat', I asked."

He paused very briefly with an odd, indescipherable look upon his face.

"Oh... uhh, no thanks. Not, not right now."

"It's been a while, Isaac. Aren't you hungry? I mean, I literally have not seen you eat a damn thing since I met you. You've got to be thirsty as hell, at least. I know I was."

Though Isaac was trying not to let on, Ellie could tell that her probing was beginning to irritate him. He narrowed his cold, jade eyes upon her, rubbing his hands and trying his best to remain polite.

"… I'm fine. Please... don't worry about it."

Ellie saw this as a direct order to drop the subject, and despite her concern she followed along. Striving for a breaking point, she motioned toward the door.

"L, look, why don't we go for a walk? It'll do you good to get your balance back. Then, when you're ready, I'll take you to meet Armin. Sound good?"

She stood before him, hands pressed to her hips and a hopeful, inviting countenance that Isaac could not resist. He finally steadied himself and stepped forward along with her.

"Ok, then."

Ellie led him out of the medical quarters, and together they began a slow, somewhat taxing walk down one of the long, octagonal hallways that rounded the perimeter of the station. They traveled silently for a little while, avoiding conversation while Isaac concentrated on strengthening his steps, and Ellie focused on helping him keep his balance. But as time quietly passed and they became more relaxed with each other, they eventually started to engage in light talk and their trek through the Atoll's halls became much more of a pleasant stroll taken by casual friends than that of a stenuous rehabilitation session. They both smiled a little as they came to realize that this was the first time they were able to walk together in peace - not running for their lives.

"Hmm. You know, I never thought I would ever be so happy to be in a place so… empty."

Isaac didn't respond right away, and Ellie shrugged.

"I suppose that didn't make sense."

Isaac shook his head.

"No, no. I know exactly what you mean."

He smiled to her, and encouraged she smiled back, outwardly unaware as she drew a little closer to him. After a while the hallway they were traversing opened up upon one of the larger divisions of the Atoll's abandoned Cargo Bay, and they found themselves surrounded by dozens of sealed storage caches that Isaac's ever-curious mind could not help but take notice of. Even in his discombobulated state, he was taking a great interest in the surroundings and examining the deteriorating station everywhere they went.

"Wow. I don't remember it looking this big from the outside."

Ellie nodded.

"Yes, it does have an unassuming facade about it, doesn't it?"

"Sure does."

As they passed another cluster of rooms that had been sealed off long ago, Ellie motioned towards them.

"All these used to store engine parts for the maintenance bays. You couldn't tell by looking at it now, but the Atoll used to be a pretty happening place. Lotta ships came in and out of here, once upon a time."

Ellie's little dips into the Atoll's past made the defunct station even more intriguing to Isaac.

"Oh, yeah? Well, what happened, then?"

She smirked bitterly.

"The CEC happened, that's what. They came through here, sucking the blood money of every last salvageable star and moon out here they could. Once they were finished, there was nothing left. People stopped coming through this sector, and those that had been staying here, all the staff, they left... everyone except for Armin. And the Atoll just dried up. Now it's just an oversized fossil that he lives on. Fucking CEC leeches."

Isaac lifted a brow at her.

"And you work for them."

Ellie sighed.

"Well… they are the last refuge for decent-paying work nowadays. A girl's gotta eat."

Isaac chuckled sympathetically, and they continued on in silence for another short intermission. Ellie kept eying him, recalling the small clues that he had dispensed about his own past along the way. Even at the risk of agitating sensitive matters, she simply had to know more about him.

"Umm, I hope this isn't, well… improper, but…"

He turned and looked at her.

"What is it?"

"Well, I… I just keep thinking about what happened back there, what you told me. About you being on the Ishimura."

Isaac had long tried to forget everything about the Ishimura, and Ellie's seemingly timid inquiry was as painful and brazen to him as the reopening of an old wound. Still, he couldn't blame her for her curiosity, considering that she and everyone else had been lied to about the Ishimura's fate - and he was one of the few still left alive who actually knew the truth firsthand. He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, forcing a smile that appeared more like the grimace that it actually was.

"Ahh, jeez… you know, we were having such a nice time…"

Ellie shook her head apologetically.

"No, no, no - you're right. I'm sorry. I knew I shouldn't have asked, but..."

Her eyes widened just ever so slightly with awe.

"... You're a survivor. An Ishimura survivor. And all that time I never even knew it."

Isaac softened to see her childlike amazement.

"It's ok. I just, I haven't wanted to talk with anyone about it since it all happened. But, you're different. I trust you, I think."

Ellie smiled comfortingly and gently squeezed his hand.

"I can appreciate that."

She glanced about, formulating questions in her mind as they exited the opposite end of the Cargo Bay and entered through another long corridor. As they passed from the wide-open space of the bay into the far more constricted area of the corridor, they both felt the shift in air pressure as the walls closed in around them and they heard the sounds of their voices reverberate a little louder off the steel girders.

"So... just what were you doing there on the Sprawl, anyway? How did you get there?"

Isaac looked down in thought, as he had not wanted to think about it to any great extent.

"I, huh... I don't really know. I just woke up there. I mean, I remember getting away from the Ishimura. But, everything after that…"

Isaac paused briefly as Nicole's necrotic, rotting face lunging at him from the back of the executive shuttle's cockpit swept through his mind and vanished.

"… I don't know. And they didn't really tell me much. They didn't give a shit about me. They had their own agenda."

"Who did?"

Isaac's expression darkened the deeper he delved into his memories.

"The… fucking scientists. Doctors. Whatever the fuck they were. They were all in it for the Marker."

"The scientists? Doctors? I dont -"

"The first Marker was destroyed. They needed me to help them build another one."

Though she gave no outward indication of her feelings, Isaac's words were starting to chill Ellie's blood.

"Isaac, how do you know all of this? Did you have something to do with what happened, or not?"

His eyes became restless, and he stumbled over his words.

"... No. Well, yes. I mean... No, not, not directly."

"Not directly?"

"I told you. I, I brought the Marker's codes back with me, from the Marker on the Ishimura. I didn't realize it, but I was carrying what they needed to build a new Marker. That's what I was doing there on the Sprawl. That's what Stross was doing there. We were both part of the same project, Ellie."

"Oh my god."

Ellie was astounded. Isaac had previously related the danger of his connection with the Marker to her, but blinded by her budding attraction to him she had nonetheless not taken it very seriously. Even now she was still finding it difficult to believe that she and Isaac were anything other than poor, hapless victims in just a very bad dream.

"... Isaac..."

As mortified to hear these details as she was, she still had every desire to inquire further about his increasingly clandestine role. But seeing he did not share in the same willingness to continue talking about it, she figured it wise to conclude this discussion for now.

"I... I don't know what happened to you back there, Isaac… but whatever it was, I'm truly sorry. I apologize for those who won't. Or can't."

Painful as it was, still he smiled affectionately in response to Ellie's kind words, and then looked down at the floor ahead of him. They walked a few more minutes in silence until he spoke again out of nowhere.

"I tried to save her. I did everything that I could. But it just wasn't enough. None of it was enough. She was already dead."

Remembering their sad, brief parting aboard the Sprawl as he had initially sent her off to safety upon the USG gunship, Ellie began to put two and two together.

"Are you talking about Nicole?"

The drop of Isaac's brow demonstrated to Ellie that she had hit a very intimate nerve.

"I... I was part of the repair crew that went to the Ishimura after it blacked out. The entire reason I volunteered for that mission was because of Nicole. I knew she was in danger. And I was stupid enough to let her go in the first place. She died… because of me."

"Isaac, she did not die because of you. Who could have known what was going to happen there?"

Isaac responded only with a deep breath, followed by silence. When he spoke up again, he completely switched subjects.

"So, where'd you meet this Armin character?"

Again, Ellie was caught off-guard by his shift in direction, but it was obvous that he was no longer willing to participate in any further discussion on the subjects of the Ishimura or Nicole. As desirous as she was to gain more answers from him, she adapted immediately.

"Oh - well, I've known Armin for many years. Since I was a kid."

"Is that right?"

"He was a friend of my father's. Armin was there a lot when dad wasn't around."

Isaac gently nodded, his interest piqued.

"I see. So, your father was a wanderer."

"Well, he traveled a lot, if that's what you mean. His work took him everywhere."

Isaac sighed.

"Yeah... mine, too."

Ellie was stirred by the despondency in his voice, but knowing how exposed and sensitive he was feeling, she was reluctant to press answers out of him. Better to bait him and let him speak at his own free will, she thought.

"Seems we have a lot in common, yeah? Maybe we were actually meant to cross paths, after all."

Isaac sought to oblige her effort to be positive by masking any further outwardly expressed dejection, while internally remaining immersed in the disheartening memories of his own long lost father.

"Yep. We were bound to meet."

Another brief moment of quiet passed as Ellie debated over what to say next.

"Well, anyway - Armin's been running the Atoll for, what? Thirty, maybe forty years. As long as I can remember, definitely. He used to take me on his shipment flights and let me practice back when I was learning to fly, so I've been here quite a lot over the years. I still check in every now and then, just to see how the old man is doing, and he saves me a room here… just so I always have a place to call 'home'."

"How long has it been since you've been back here?"

Ellie's eyes rolled in a moment of thought.

"Oh, I'd say it's been about five or six years, now. Quite a while, but I've been so busy once I got my gig with the CEC. It's definitely been nice to see him again."

Isaac nodded, but Ellie still suspected that he was feeling uneasy.

"It's alright. Armin's a good man. At least, he always has been to me. You don't have anything to worry about here."

Despite her reassurances, Isaac still did not seem convinced.

"Well… we'll see."

* * *

Armin was in one of the Atoll's deserted break rooms that had long ago been converted into a small personal workshop, and he was carefully examining the remnants of the Advanced Suit he and Ellie had taken off of Isaac.

_What in the hell...?_

As an older generation engineer himself, Armin shared in the same analytical obsession to comprehend from a functional standpoint what was foreign to him, and he continued to be mesmerized by the suit's technological modifications - including a few that seemed to have been hand built and implemented post-manufacture. There were a few remnants of the strange organic matter still clinging to it, and he focused his attention upon wherever he found it.

Absorbed in his work, Armin was completely unaware of anyone else present.

"Hey, Armin."

Armin whipped his head over his shoulder to see that Ellie was standing just beyond the open doorway. When he realized that Isaac was accompanying her, he grinned toothily with relief to see that her companion had recovered.

"Oh, hey - "

Armin suddenly recalled how Ellie had warned him about revealing too much to Isaac right away, so he deftly swept the infected remains of the Advanced Suit underneath a small green tarp bundled up on the worktable before it was noticed by either of them. He then reached up and pulled off his goggles, which left the pink flesh around his eyes temporarily marred by darkened, circular dents.

"Well, hello, there."

Isaac took the opportunity to look Armin over more closely as he approached. The old man seemed amenable enough, and even fatherly underneath his shabby, weatherbeaten appearance which was like an old strip of leather. He was somewhat round, and short - shorter than Isaac or even Ellie, the top of his head barely reaching her shoulder. His pudgy, oil smeared cheeks were carpeted by a sparse, silvery off-white beard and moustache that only hinted at what was once a thick mane of wiry, copper hair. The freckled and deep toned skin of his face and neck suggested years of uninhibited exposure to solar rays in deep space, and while his face displayed a network of aged cracks and faultlines, his bright, youthful slate eyes stood out in stark contrast to his elderly appearance. He was wrapped in a pair of dark, navy blue overalls and a thick woolen sweater nearly identical in color, along with the same knit skullcap that covered the top of his head. All in all, had the grueling nature of his occupation over decades not been so merciless upon his outer appearance, Armin might have passed perfectly for a jovial, round-bellied garden gnome.

"Nice to have you back with us, partner."

A noticable hobble in his step also became apparent. As the old man came into the light, Isaac could then see why - Armin's entire right foot was missing, replaced by an outdated metal prosthetic that, despite a frayed, black rubber stopper inches long being nailed to the base of it, still caused his leg to be shorter than the other.

Armin reached out to shake hands, and Isaac could tell right away by looking at this outlandish old codger that they shared some very similar commonalities. Armin's hands, along with nearly every other inch of exposed skin, were littered with callouses, scars and other telltale signs that he was an experienced engineer with many years under his belt - and quite a few more than Isaac. Seeking to oblige him, Isaac shook his hand.

"Yeah. Well, back for the most part."

Feeling somewhat satisfied that the old man did indeed appear to be as harmless and friendly as Ellie had promised, Isaac finally loosened up a little. He smiled, taking Armin's seniority into account.

"Nice to meet you, Sir."

Armin's grin grew a little bigger, and he shook his head.

"We're all friends. Formalities are forbidden 'round here."

Isaac smiled to the side, remaining circumspect.

"Heh, sure."

"How you feelin'? I'm sorry it wasn't a little more 'posh' fer ya... hope you didn't find it too uncomfortable."

Isaac shook his head.

"Oh, no... I'm fine. No complaints."

He chuckled to break the gravity of the moment, then his smile began to fade as something a little more serious came to mind.

"... I um, I want to thank you. For what you did."

He turned briefly back to Ellie.

"For what you both did. You guys saved my life."

Armin smiled reassuringly.

"No sweat. What one does for his fellow man, eh? Besides, wasn't about to let ye die on my workdesk."

Ellie laughed, stepping up from behind Isaac.

"Well, I don't think it was Isaac's time to go, anyway."

Isaac nodded slowly to Ellie, then turned back to Armin.

"I also understand that you've been helping Ellie... take care of some stuff."

"Armin's expression softened a little, coming to barely sense Isaac's underlying nervousness.

"...It's allright, partner. You ain't got nothin' to worry about. Whoever yer hidin' from, they ain't gonna find ya here."

Isaac's eyes widened a little at first, shocked to realize that Armin was conscious of the fact that he and Ellie were on the run. He had no idea if Ellie had told Armin outright about what had happened to them, or whether the old engineer was merely making an educated assumption based on what he could see of their circumstances in coming to the Atoll. Even as he began to panic, Isaac kept himself collected and under control as he sought to ensure that things between them were absolutely straight. After bouncing around the room, his eyes came to rest darkly upon Armin's.

"So... I, guess I kinda, owe you. If you know what I mean."

Armin slowly nodded in total understanding, and briefly glanced at Ellie.

"Consider it a favor for my goddaughter. We're cool."

Their eyes remained locked upon each other as Isaac searched the depths of Armin's countenance for anything he could truly come to trust, until Armin finally returned with a smile and beckoned to him.

"C'mon, I'll give you the grand tour - if Ellie hasn't already done so."

While he was still anxious and eager to move on to the next phase of their plan, Isaac was finding it difficult to resist Armin's offer. He had taken a great interest in the defunct station, and he was finally beginning to feel comfortable enough with Armin to consider getting to know him a little better. He turned and looked to Ellie for a final approval, who waved him on.

"Oh, you two go ahead. I'm gonna go get a head start on tearing out that computer system in the gunship. It's got some pretty valuable parts inside that we might be able to use for trade on the road ahead."

She waved them off and left the room as Armin proceed to lead Isaac through the back door, and they started their journey through the dimly lit Atoll. They navigated their way through a maze of gigantic metal crates littering the floor along the way, and Isaac's mind was repeatedly inundated by visions of the Spawl - and though he knew that it was impossible, he kept catching glimpses of bloodthirsty Stalkers leering at him from around every bend.

_Clever girls._

Armin led him on through the station, and Isaac kept one eye on the shadows the entire time.


	8. The Wolfe Awakens

**Chapter 8  
The Wolfe Awakens**

* * *

Along the outskirts of a small asteroid field that extended just beyond planet Neptune, an unregistered stealth-class mining bird slipped soundlessly through the darkness of space, weaving in and out like a fly among the cosmic debris. Bathed in the soft, azure illumination of the control holopads that surrounded him, the pilot within surveyed the asteroid field through both the ship's scanners and his own algid eyes of charcoal, in search of anything that might be salvageable. After lengthy analysis in total isolation and silence that yielded no results, he concluded that this particular field was too dry for his resource-scavenging taste. He mumbled quietly to himself.

"Shit. Well... better luck next time."

Seeing no further need to loiter, the pilot directed his ship around the field toward the opposite side in preparation to head out. Just as he set into motion, the inbound receiver suddenly lit up with an incoming transmission.

"What's this?"

Drawn to it by its excited orange flashing, he activated the device and carefully eyed the header information of the incoming message. He saw that it was not a hail intended for him personally, but an emergency public broadcast that had commandeered all open citizen channels. Curiosity roused the man and he sat up in his seat, well knowing that messages considered this important were usually of EarthGov origin, and contained news of a breaking degree.

"Hmm."

With a flick of his finger, the pilot tapped the holopad to download the message. He scratched at his fuzzy grey goatee, deep in thought until the message finished loading and the holoscreen lit up with the visual playback. He then narrowed his eyes upon the prerecorded imagery of a stiff shouldered reporter in EarthGov uniform, sitting straight as an arrow at a desk with folded hands and staring spiritlessly into the camera.

_"Attention all citizens, this is an official EarthGov announcement. Stay tuned for important information."_

The pilot lifted his brow with piqued interest, grinning furtively to the side and turning all of his attention to the video.

_"EarthGov officials have now confirmed that Titan Station of Saturn has been destroyed in an unprovoked terrorist attack."_

His jaw loosened, and he kept his eyes on the jittering threads of digital imagery_._

_"Less than three days ago, the long-standing Titan Station orbiting Saturn, known as "The Sprawl", became the latest victim of terrorist activity which resulted in destruction of the entire station due to an induced core reactor meltdown. Officials have no explanation as to how it happened, but an evacuation of the station was attempted - which was only partially successful. While solid numbers have not been reported it is predicted at this time that over three quarters of the station's residents have been lost in the tragedy. Authorities are still searching for survivors."_

The pilot snubbed the tip of his nose with his thumb, swearing with amazement under his breath. While he had no personal investment in the Sprawl or any of its residents, being isolated from any sense of compassion by the parsecs of space that separated them, the gravity of the situation still affected even this very detached man to some degree.

_"This is the second terrorist attack of this scale against a Unitologist funded CEC operation in just a little over three years, with the first target having been the USG Ishimura - the CEC's oldest and most famous planetcracker class vessel. The Ishumura, which was docked at Titan Station for decommission following the initial attack that claimed the lives of nearly everyone on board three years ago, was also destroyed. __Officials suspect that the same terror cell is responsible for both attacks, and radical anti-Unitologist activity has not been ruled out."_

The pilot scoffed at the mention of the Unitologists. Having shared in the same negative viewpoint that so many others carried for the underlying motives of the Unitologist cult, it did not surprise him to hear their name being associated with a devastating tragedy such as this. The reporter on screen continued.

_"EarthGov has indicated a key subject they believe to have been involved in both events, and has released the following Level Red warrant:"_

The digital imagery flashed from that of the reporter to a mug shot of a beclouded, sad looking man with dark grey hair, shaved facial scruff and deep emerald eyes, which was bordered by a paragraph of text underneath. The grim, monochromatic photograph compelled the pilot to widen his eyes in awe and lean closer to the screen as his blood ran cold with instant recognition.

**||| Fugitive from EarthGov****  
||| ISAAC CLARKE  
||| Male Caucasian / 6'2" / 175-185 lbs / black-grey hair / green eyes / 46 years of age  
||| Delusional and dangerous; if found, do not approach! Report location to the nearest EarthGov authority ****immediately**

For a very brief moment, the pilot's heart stopped.

_"The suspect was incarcerated under EarthGov in relation to the Ishimura incident prior to the Titan Station attack, and he escaped from his room in the Titan Memorial Medical Center during the frenzy. Officials are unable to confirm whether he is still alive, but they are taking very seriously the possibility that he successfully evacuated. __The suspect is believed to be delusional, armed and extremely dangerous. Citizens are strongly urged to avoid approaching anyone they believe to be the suspect. Instead, they should immediately report his location to the nearest EarthGov authority. _

_There is a large credit reward for anyone who has any information leading to the suspect's whereabouts and/or capture, alive or dead...__"_

When he saw the astronomical amount of the reward displayed on-screen beneath the reporter, the pilot's face lit up even brighter.

"Hmm. Heap of trouble that boy's in."

He continued to stare at the holocreen as the reporter wrapped up with a few final words of caution, and the projected imagery vanished upon the broadcast's conclusion. After a few moments of silent deliberation in the darkness of the cockpit, he reached calmly for the holopad in front of him and activated the outbound receiver.

"Seven... Seven, do you read?"

A few seconds later, a deep, static laden voice shocked in through the receiver.

_"Aye, Captain. Loud 'n clear."_

The pilot nodded and clasped his hands together, resting his elbows upon the panel.

"Seven, you and your boys listen up. I've got a new assignment for you."

_"Go ahead, Sir."_

"This one's a bounty. A big one. I'm forwarding you the info. Check it out now if you haven't seen it on your end yet."

The pilot then accessed the message he had just received, and with a few keystrokes transmitted it to his teammate on the other end. He waited for a few minutes until his partner over the airwaves acknowledged receipt of the message.

_"Aye Sir, we're on it. We'll start combing the closest Nests, and go from there."_

The pilot stared dark eyed out the cockpit window, glancing from one distant star to the next.

"Make it happen, Seven. I don't care what you have to do, or who you have to take him from. You bring him to me. Alive."

_"... Yes, Captain. Seven out."_


End file.
